It’s Tuesday morning and I’m still shaking the cobwebs out!

Did the Dude tie one on last night? No he didn’t.

Did the Dude get glutened? Nope.

Did the Dude go to bed too late? Not at all.

So what was the Dude’s celiac sin?

I simply had an unhealthy weekend. And not unhealthy as many may define it. No binge drinking. No fast food. No candy. No ice cream. No late-night 7-Eleven runs.

But it was a pretty “social” weekend and with that comes the adult beverage or two along with some late night eating. Again, nothing overboard, but enough to make me feel like spending the next 37 hours at the gym to get it out of my system.

But here’s the thing.

Pre-celiac days, the only time I felt like this is if I went WAY OVERBOARD in the eating and drinking department.

And now? It happens so easily.

I can get buzzed on one drink and hungover on two.

One bout of overeating and I feel full for 24 hours.

And I hate it. I feel like my tolerance for anything unhealthy has become abnormally low.

Is it because I have celiac disease? Has my system become so extra sensitive due to the nature of the disease?

Or am I over-thinking things and this is all just part of getting older?

This is one of the most frustrating things about celiac disease. There is a tendency to blame most of your ailments on it (a blog post for another day), when really what you’re feeling may just be…life.

How about all you fellow celiacs out there? Has your tolerance changed since your diagnosis?

Please share your thoughts below.

If you need me, I’ll be at they gym. Or in the bathroom.

Who is Dean McDermott you say?

If you don’t know who is he, then you don’t watch reality TV.

And if you don’t watch reality TV, then you don’t watch “Tori & Dean”.

And if you don’t watch “Tori & Dean”, you are missing some of the best unscripted entertainment the industry has to offer.

Ok…I’m being totally sarcastic. I am not a fan of Reality TV but to each his own.

Alright Gluten Dude…get to the point. What does this have to do with celiac disease?

Well…it seems that our friend Dean McDermott has celiac disease. Which in and of itself is not necessarily newsworthy. But whenever a public personality has celiac disease and opens up about it, it can go one of two ways.

1. Either he/she can become an advocate for the disease and educate people about its implications.
2. Or he/she can can mislead the public, making it more difficult for us celiacs to be taken seriously.

Since you can tell I’m in a ranting mood, you can guess which route Mr. McDermott decided to take.

There are always two sides to every story.

And while we as consumers can bitch and moan about gluten, celiac and all the things that come with it, there is an entire industry that is also side-saddled with this problem.

This would be the food industry.

Not the manufacturers of food (who have jumped on the gluten-free bandwagon just fine, thank you) but the chefs who work their butts off each and every day so we can all enjoy a meal out once in awhile.

One of my good friends is a personal chef at a vacation home and he has recently opened my eyes to what he goes through on a daily basis as food allergens have become all the rage.

Here is a recent email I received from him:

Yesterday was indeed a strange day in glutenville (glutentown? glutenburgh??).

It’s days like yesterday that I think us celiacs need to hire a top public relations firm to help us rise above the noise of the media-created gluten hysteria.

As I’ve said in the past, I HATE the fact that gluten has gone mainstream.

Hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it.

The ONLY benefit it has provided is more food choices as many companies drool over the potential profits and have jumped on the gluten-free bandwagon. Hell…even foods that were always gluten free now have GLUTEN FREE plastered all over the product.

Other than that, it is all negative. Some may say it has created awareness for our plight, but I think it’s had the opposite affect. I think it’s minimized it. For much of the public, celiac disease has become “that gluten thing”.

The picture above? That was me ALL DAY yesterday. One of those days where I wake up tired and just get more exhausted as the day goes on. Clock-watched the entire day and finally crawled into bed at 7. Actually woke up in the middle of the night thinking it must be time to get up. Looked at the clock and it was 9:13…pm.

And this is where my mind starts to wander a bit. Was I glutened? Or was I simply just…tired? I mean, people get tired, don’t they?

But I did eat something that I’ve never had before yesterday.

On the other hand, I watched the Super Bowl, had a few beverages and watched the (awesome!) Giant highlights until midnight.

If I didn’t have Celiac disease, I wouldn’t think twice about it.

“All Beer Now Gluten Free”

“Rafael Nadal Eats Five Loaves of Bread: Wins Wimbledon”

“Gluten-Free Groceries No Longer Double the Price of Normal Groceries”

“B-list Celebrity Goes on Gluten-Free Diet. Gains 70 Pounds.”

“John Doe has Stomach Ache. Does Not Blame Gluten.”

“Gluten Declared Illegal Substance”

“Government Says All Gluten-Free Food Now Tax Deductible”

“All Italian Restaurants Now Carry Gluten-Free Pasta”

“Snow White says Sleepy Now Gluten Free and Wide Awake”

“Afternoon Naps for Celiacs Mandatory”

“Morning-After-Gluten Pill Comes to Market”

“Celiac Disease Declared Off-Limits to All Children”

“Number of Confirmed Celiac Symptoms Falls Below 1,000″

“All Physicians Now Properly Trained in Celiac Diagnosis”

“Everything Labeled Gluten-Free is Actually Gluten-Free”

“The Gluten-Free Fad Diet is Officially Over”

“The Gluten Dude Discovers a Cure for Celiac Disease”

Do you have a headline you’d like to see? Would love to hear it.

Celiac disease is tough. And I don’t just mean it’s tough to have…which it is.

But the diagnosis itself can be really tough because the symptoms of celiac disease for one person can be totally different than the symptoms for the next person. I have heard from countless celiacs since I started my blog. And their symptoms before diagnosis were all over the map: stomach aches, diarrhea, weight loss, bad skin, bone pain, etc.

But many of them mentioned one maddening symptom above all else.

The one that is hard to put your finger on. The one that is so difficult for people without celiac disease to understand. And the one that is even more challenging to explain.

This symptom is brain fog.

For all you celiacs out there, have you ever gone through a long stretch where you feel totally fine? Totally fine as in normal. Healthy. Not sick. No brain fog. No stomach aches. No hourly trips to the library. You get the point. And then you find yourself wondering…

Do I still have celiac disease?

Well…I’m in one of those stretches right now. And physically it feels great. But believe it or not, it poses a mental challenge as my mind tends to play tricks with me.

“Maybe I’ve beaten the odds and I’ve healed completely.”

“Maybe I’ll be the first person in history to erase an autoimmune disease.”

“Maybe I can go back to a “normal” lifestyle.”

I know, I know. There is no cure for celiac disease and the only treatment is a life of pleasure-free gluten-free eating. Believe me, I know.

But as the weeks go on and I find myself without a hint of feeling ill, I seriously start to wonder.

But then reality slaps me in the face. “Snap out of it Dude. You’ve got celiac disease. Don’t you remember how miserable you were? How you never felt right.”